Steve Jobs once famously dissed styli, saying “If you see a stylus, they blew it”. But this is Tim Cook’s Apple now and under his leadership the company has actually built a stylus (pardon me, a pencil) that, for now, works with the iPad Pro. According to a resurfaced Tim Cook interview with NDTV’s Vikram Chandra, the iPhone 7 might support the Pencil.

“f you’ve ever seen what can be created with that pencil on an iPad or an iPhone, it’s really unbelievable,” Cook said in the interview. Some observes think Cook simply misspoke. But did he, really? Read More

Many people are disappointed that the latest iPads lack 3D Touch-capable screens although it’s anyone’s guess whether or not 3D Touch would make sense on tablet-sized screens. Well, iOS 10 beta 2 apparently has 3D Touch-like functionality on the iPad thanks to the Apple Pencil, which has been discovered to support deep presses.

Using an Apple Pencil, it’s possible to do things like clear all notifications with a deep press on the latest beta of iOS 10. Check out our video showing the feature in action and, as usually, let us know what you guys think of this. Read More

Some people can retain information just as easily via typing as they would when taking notes by hand, but studies have shown that the act of physically writing results in significantly more retention. The best of both worlds is now available in the Equil Digital & Ink Smartpen 2, allowing you to create, edit and share your ideas seamlessly between paper and digital. Now you can pick up your own with a $50 SmartMarker coupon bonus, all for 31% off.

Accessory maker Adonit announced a new addition to its styli lineup today, dubbed the Pixel. Calling it “the best stylus we’ve ever made,” Adonit claims it wants the Pixel to be the natural evolution of writing and drawing. The device is available for just $79.99, or twenty bucks less than the Apple Pencil.

While it lacks some of the advanced features found in Apple’s stylus, the Pixel doesn’t require a special circuitry inside the display itself in order to function. Read More

Well, that didn’t take long. In response to concerns that it is taking features away from the iPad Pro’s Pencil, Apple confirmed in a statement to The Verge that the next iOS 9.3 beta will reinstate the Pencil’s ability to be used as a finger replacement for the user interface navigation.

“We will add this functionality back in the next beta of iOS 9.3,” said a company spokesperson. Earlier today, MacRumors discovered that the most recent beta of iOS 9.3 has removed the ability for iPad Pro customers to use the Pencil to navigate the entirety of the iOS user interface. Read More

Astropad, an awesome app by former Apple engineers that basically turns the screen of your iOS device into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has received an important update this morning with expanded support for Apple’s new 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. Coupled with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, Astropad is now truly a Wacom Cintiq replacement that’s wireless.

“We’ve spent significant time with iPad Pro and we’ve rethought, tweaked and tuned Astropad to make the most of this powerful device,” developers tell me via email. Read More

According to a teardown analysis of the Apple Pencil performed by iFixit, Apple’s optional Bluetooth stylus accessory for the iPad Pro packs in the smallest logic board that the repair firm has ever seen. Despite its minuscule appearance, Apple’s engineers had to fold it in half to fit inside the Pencil’s tiny enclosure.

As if that weren’t enough, the Apple Pencil is choke full of other radical technological solutions, said iFixit. Read More

Microsoft’s fourth-generation Surface Pro offers stylus and keyboard cover accessories just like Apple’s newly released iPad Pro. Apple, of course, is adamant that the Pencil is the best stylus on the market because it has virtually no lag or delay.

The Apple Pencil takes full advantage of iOS’s predictive touch technology, the iPad Pro’s special screen design and sensors in its tip that measure every nuanced stroke, angle and pressure.

After putting the device through its paces, El Mundo writer and photographer Angel Jimenez de Luis concludes that Apple’s stylus has a bit lower latency than Microsoft’s, and he posted a video showcasing tracking capabilities of both accessories. Read More

Apple’s legendary attention to detail comes into full view yet again with the iPad Pro’s optional accessory, the Apple Pencil. As first discovered and shared by The Verge in its iPad Pro review, the Apple-branded stylus—which was designed exclusively for the new iPad—is weighted so it won’t roll away on a table top. In fact, it always stops rolling with the word ‘Pencil’ facing upward on its metal band, which is awesome. Read More

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Following its announcement of the long-rumored iPad Pro, Apple introduced two new accessories for the 12.9-inch tablet. The first is the keyboard, which you can read about here, and the second is a stylus accessory that the company is calling the ‘Apple Pencil.’

Apple used a traditional Jony Ive-voiceover video to unveil the Pencil, with the newly-appointed Chief Design Officer saying “Apple Pencil is designed to look and feel like a familiar tool. Highly responsive sensors built into Pencil can sense pressure, tilt, and stroke.” Read More

A new report, by well-sourced blogger Mark Gurman, has outlined additional information regarding the upcoming iPad Pro. Just two days from what will likely be the super-sized tablet’s first public appearance, details on its storage size, apps, and accessories are revealed in a new writeup on 9to5Mac. What storage size will the iPad Pro start at? How much might it cost? Will it include the long-rumored stylus accessory? Read More

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in a note issued to clients Wednesday, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider, that Apple’s 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ will be entering mass production in September or October of this year.

The device will feature an optional Apple-made stylus accessory, sold separately, with built-in Force Touch support. Read More

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is adamant that Apple is working on an advanced stylus accessory for a rumored 12-inch ‘iPad Pro,’ an assumption based in no small part on patent applications Apple has filed for in years past.

The latest indication that the iPhone maker is indeed researching styli technology comes in the form of a new patent application published Thursday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which proposes an advanced texture-sensing stylus design with a built-in camera. Read More

As one of the WWDC 2015 session videos details, the Cocoa Touch framework in iOS 9 has gained brand new predictive touch capabilities. Not only that, but iOS 9 now has a drawing engine and features vastly improved multi-touch performance, a significant boon for apps that let you draw with your finger or a stylus. Read More

Apple’s rumored 12.9-inch iPad Pro is understood to include a number of interesting hardware features, including a Bluetooth stylus accessory, support for Force Touch input and a USB-C connector, AppleInsider has ostensibly learned from a person familiar with Apple’s future product plans.

Dubbed by the press ‘iPad Pro,’ the device believed to be in the works should feature a larger 12.9-inch display, as rumored many times before. The timetable for release for this device is unknown at this point and AppleInsider is adamant that a number of changes are in tow to the iPad lineup. Read More

A major update, Astropad 1.1 includes major accuracy and wavy line improvements for the Jot Touch Pixelpoint stylus, improved palm rejection for Adonit styluses, support for Adobe Ink (choose Adonit when pairing), new settings and built-in help. Read More

Microsoft on Tuesday upped the ante in the tablet race by announcing a new version of its Surface tablet/laptop hybrid, the Surface 3. Matching the iPad Air’s starting price, the $499 device is being advertised as Microsoft’s lightest, thinnest and least expensive tablet yet.

This non-Pro, low-cost version of the Surface runs Intel’s new 1.6GHz quad-core Atom x7 chip (the highest performing Atom processor on the market) rather than an ARM-based processor, putting another nail in the Windows RT coffin.

The hybrid device has two gigabytes of RAM and sixty-four gigabytes of flash storage, runs full Windows 8.1, is upgradable to Windows 10 and offers an optional colorful keyboard at $129 for a $628 total before taxes. Read More